Polls, tantalisingly close, yet so far

IT’S a pity that national election, a festive occasion for the people of Bangladesh, a civilised means for peaceful transfer of power, and a vehicle for expression of popular sovereignty is being approached with unqualified trepidation. At a time when there would have been expectancy and excitement, anxiety and premonition rend the air. Why? All because consensus on modalities of the election still remains a far cry and so is the possibility of a well-participated credible election.
People are even expressing doubts whether an election would at all be held, and if held, what would it be like — tainted with poor turnout, one-sidedness and falling short of international standards? Or, an imposed one that because of lacking legitimacy will have to yield place to a new one held at double the public expense, not that for the first time, too. Only an incurable optimist will repose confidence in such an election.
When this is the perception in the final days of the incumbent government, how relevant is it to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the Election Commission (EC)? I would say, it’s all the more reason why we must place the preparedness of the present EC under the microscope.
Representation of People’s Order (RPO) is the pivot of the electoral laws. The 2007 caretaker government carried out extensive reform of the RPO through an ordinance. This required candidates to furnish particulars on their track record including criminality, if any. Also, it tasked the grassroots committees in constituencies to create panels of nominees on the basis of which the central leadership will finalise the names of candidates. This provision aimed to curb nomination business, has been struck out of the RPO. It needs to be revived as a badge of intra-party democracy.
In material terms, the Election Commission’s proposals to amend 41 articles in the RPO were overlooked in preference to law ministry’s recommendations to amend 28 articles. These, placed before the cabinet in a bill form for approval, include raising of the election campaign spending ceiling and debarring ‘independent-rebel’ candidates from elections. This impinges on the democratic right of citizens to contest election. Thankfully though, in the face of public outcry, the Commission has retracted from its abdication of the authority to cancel candidature of persons found guilty of misconduct.
For electoral offences, the punitive clauses have been watered down and the Election Commission’s request for transfer of a government official may not be obligatory for the authority to comply with. The law ministry has also not endorsed the Commission’s proposals for authority on auditing electoral expenditure and processing action against candidates concealing information or otherwise liable for infringement of RPO regulations.
It will be worthwhile to take a cue from how the EC is structured and how it functions in the established democracy of India as compared with the EC in a relatively nascent and troubled democracy such as in Bangladesh.
Our EC is five-member body with a CEC and four Commissioners. Indian Election Commission is a three-member body with a CEC and two Commissioners. The vastness of India makes the election the largest single event management in the world for which the credit goes to the compact three-member Commission. In a country of 800 million voters, 350 general assembly elections are held to 36 states in addition to the national elections. The Commission works with 650 chief electoral officers at the district level drawn from the IAS cadre on contract for three years. They are such a mosaic of diverse origins that a certain neutrality is built into the structure.
In Bangladesh, the EC has 3,500 staff members of different grades; Operatively, returning officers and assistant returning officers drawn from the executive cadre are the lynchpins in the system.
In India, a system of total compliance with the model code of conduct prescribed by the EC is a fact of life because political parties, candidates, constituencies and voters fully cooperate with the EC in the electoral endeavour.
The electoral infrastructure has complements in committees of accountability, and moral certification and monitoring committees that address the concerns centering around election expenditure, use of money and muscle power, ‘paid news,’ use of communal language in campaigns among a whole lot of predilections a general election may fall prey to.
Remember that in a historic verdict of the Indian Supreme Court ‘no-vote’ by way of rejecting a candidate has been recognised as a citizen’s right to free expression among his/her fundamental rights.
In the context of Bangladesh, such an option could add value to the right of franchise which political parties lay a unilateral claim to.

ILO speaks up

DISMAYED at Tuesday’s fire in a Gazipur composite textile mill that claimed seven lives, ILO has observed that enough has not been done to ensure safety of workers in Bangladesh garment factories.
Given the history of our tragedy-stricken garment industry that lost hundreds of workers’ lives in a series of accidents, this latest incident of fire is one too many. Obviously, it will be hard to convince anyone that the factory in question maintained necessary building and fire safety standards as claimed by its owner.
Clearly, the international image of our garment industry may have received yet another jolt. It has put under scrutiny the post-Rana Plaza international collaborative effort undertaken in partnership with UN to improve workers’ safety through implementing fire and building safety measures.
The factory owners and the government should take note of the concern expressed by ILO. They need to take stock of the progress already made and take a renewed effort with vigour to improve working conditions, strengthen labour inspection and upgrade building and fire safety in all garment factories. Mounting a strong inspection and monitoring mechanism to keep tabs on the progress made is essential.
The garment owners, especially the apex body, BGMEA, and the government must face facts and try their utmost to present a brighter image to the world at large than it has at the moment.

JU deadlock must end

WITH BCL men reportedly foiling anti-VC demonstration and assaulting some agitating teachers in JU matters have come to a head there. Over a year’s unrest at Jahangirnagar University has caused it to be three to four months behind schedule, with fears of further session jams ahead.
What began as a general protest against the appointment of a vice-chancellor has gained momentum with his alleged failure to provide security to students and teachers on campus resulting in the death of a student earlier this year, and his failure to take action against a ruling party student leader who was accused of physically assaulting a teacher. Protests have raged over months with the crisis now having reached an impasse. The government’s recent warning that it would take ‘appropriate action’ to ensure an academic atmosphere has only been met with further discontent.
Surely the right to education, as scheduled and in a secure, peaceful environment is not too much to expect from an educational institution? Not only are the students — whose months of academic backlog means years of struggle ahead — suffering, but the administrative activities of the university have also come to a standstill, with senate, syndicate and academic council meetings missed during this time.
There must be an immediate end to the crisis. We urge all parties involved — the administration, the protesting faculty and the government — to engage in dialogue to end the stalemate for the sake of the thousands of JU students whose future is now in an uncertain limbo.

Rough ride home

The journey home during the Eid and Puja holidays is likely to be rough and long, as a large number of highways are riddled with potholes while many others are too narrow to cope with the huge rush.
Then there is the long delay at ferry terminals.
Many regional and district roads are in bad shape as well and will cause sufferings on the way once the rush of holidaymakers begins today.
Most roads are narrow. Besides, roadside shops, bazaars and cattle markets and illegal vehicles like nasimon, karimon and easy-bikes will add to the woes. Rain could worsen the situation even more.
The authorities have planned for a smooth journey on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Mawa-Kawrakandi ferry routes, but handling the heavy traffic of passenger buses and cattle-carrying trucks remains a big challenge.
Thirteen ferries will ply each route during the Eid holidays.
To ease people’s sufferings, the authorities have decided to ban all vehicles, except for passenger vehicles, cattle-laden trucks and trucks with perishable items, from using the ferries on October 13-15 and 17-19.
“We will deploy a mobile court and set up a control room to maintain order at Paturia and Daulatdia ferry terminals,” Masud Karim, deputy commissioner of Manikganj, told our district correspondent.
Sirajul Islam, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority manager (commerce) at Mawa, said 13 ferries could carry 1,700-1,800 vehicles every day. “The number of vehicles rises up to 4,000 a day from a few days before Eid. We will engage four more ferries to handle the extra pressure.”
The condition of Dhaka-Chittagong highway is the worst, partly because it is rather narrow and partly because of its expansion work-related hazards. Potholes, waterlogging and dumping of dirt along the highway will make the journey even more difficult.
The highway is known as the economic lifeline of the country, but that does not prevent long tailbacks from slowing down movement on it. A single accident can create a jam several kilometres long on both sides. A six-hour journey sometimes takes more than 14 hours.

Questions over Rupali’s high loan growth

The comparatively high loan growth of Rupali Bank among state banks this year has raised suspicions of the International Monetary Fund.
Rupali’s net loan growth between December 31, 2012 and August 31, 2013 stood at 9.99 percent against Sonali’s -4.41 percent, Janata’s 0.81 percent and Agrani’s 1.76 percent, according to central bank statistics.
The IMF mission, which left Dhaka on October 6, raised questions as to why Rupali’s loans shot up when Janata’s and Agrani’s increased slightly and Sonali’s even declined, a central bank official said, asking not to be named.
“Given the political uncertainty, most banks are struggling to disburse loans. Rupali’s exceptionally high loan growth in such a scenario made the IMF suspicious of wrongdoings in the bank,” the official said.
Rupali’s loan growth target for the whole year was 10 percent but by August the bank’s total loan growth overshot the target by 1.24 percent, while its net loan growth almost reached that figure.
“They [the IMF mission] urged the central bank to monitor whether any financial irregularities were taking place at Rupali,” the official added.
But a high official of Rupali told The Daily Star that its loan base was “low” in December compared to other state banks and hence the higher growth.
Rupali’s total loans and advances on December 31, 2012 stood at Tk 9,064.15 crore, while Sonali’s Tk 37,786.7 crore, Janata’s Tk 30,340.2 crore and Agrani’s Tk 21,266.3 crore.
Meanwhile, one of the reasons for the sparse loan growth in the other three banks is that the government has repaid some of its loans from them in the face of IMF pressure.
The three banks’ loans to the government on August 31 stood at Tk 4,730 crore, down from Tk 12,176 crore on December 31.
The government paid Tk 2,500 crore to Sonali, Tk 1,800 crore to Janata and Tk 1,600 crore to Agrani for their loans to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, the central bank official said.
Pradip Kumar Dutta, managing director of Sonali Bank, told The Daily Star that the banks have pulled back from their aggressive lending stance and are now exercising caution over their lending activities, and hence the low loan growth.
“Moreover, many borrowers are taking fewer loans now due to political uncertainty. On one hand, loan recovery is good and on the other hand, demand for new loans is less,” he said, adding that Sonali has recovered Tk 2,870 crore loans in the first nine months of the year.
A high official of Janata Bank, too, said their loan recovery is good. “We have almost recovered the whole year’s target against classified loans. And on the other hand, the demand for fresh loan was less and so the credit growth fell.”
The central bank official further said necessary actions would be taken against the banks which failed to bring down their loan growth in the quarter that ended on September 30.

Bangladesh still a top choice for garment buyers

Despite frequent factory disasters, Bangladesh remains the favourite of international garment retailers mainly due to the competitive prices the country offers, participants in a textile show said yesterday.
Now Bangladesh is considered an alternative to China, the largest apparel exporter worldwide, as the prices of garment products in the Asian giant have gone up due to higher cost of production and a shortage of workers, they said.
“We have no shortage of orders,” said Mohammad Delwar Hossain, a senior marketing officer of Beximco Textiles, a leading garment maker, at a pavilion at the 24th Batexpo at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.
The three-day annual extravaganza — Bangladesh Apparel and Textile Exposition — kicked off yesterday.
Hossain said many had thought after the Tazreen Fashions fire and Rana Plaza building collapse that the global retailers would shy away from placing orders in Bangladeshi factories.
But that did not happen, he said, adding: “The retailers are coming in increasing numbers though they are now more cautious about the compliance issues.”
Another reason the retailers prefer Bangladesh is that the country now manufactures diversified and value-added products, Hossian said. Value-added and high-end products account for almost 30 percent of Bangladesh’s total apparel exports.
The demand for such items is growing among the Western customers, he added.
However, turnout at the show was poor compared to the previous years as the exhibition is taking place ahead of the Eid festival, the participants said.
Many foreign buyers did not join the show as Bangladesh Garment Manufac-turers and Exporters Association, the garment makers’ platform, opened it early this year fearing political unrest in November and December, they said.
“The business is so-so. Response from the buyers is not so good this year,” said Zhang Hua, a Chinese entrepreneur who came to Bangladesh to take part in the show. “Bangladesh’s competitiveness is increasing as China is losing its business,” he said.
Nurul Ain, deputy general manager (marketing) of Nassa Group, a leading garment maker of Bangladesh, said buyers have become cautious about compliance after the factory disasters.
“But they (the buyers) are also offering higher prices to help the local makers comply with standards,” he said.
Bangladesh exported garment items worth $21.51 billion in fiscal 2012-13 registering a 12.70 percent growth compared to the previous year. China’s apparel exports stood at $159.9 billion in 2012.

Huge tailback on Dhaka-Tangail highway

Thousands of homebound people stranded on Dhaka-Tangail highway have been suffering as vehicular movement came to a halt since Thursday night.
Due to heavy rush days before of Eid-ul-Ahza and Puja, hundreds of vehicles got stuck in 20-kilomitre tailback from Gazipur to Tangail on both sides of the highway, the gateway of 26 districts including northern districts, said Omar Faruque, officer-in-charge of Kaliakoir Police Station.
Numerous capital-bound cattle-laden trucks and on their return after unloading the cattle largely contributed nagging the gridlock, highway police said.
The gridlock started to ease slightly around 1:30pm, the police official said.
Earlier in the morning, hundreds of vehicles got stranded both sides of the highway from Nandan Park and Joydevpur Chourasta of Gazipur to Mirzapur of Tangail, he added.
Vehicles were moving very slowly from Mirzapur to Elenga in Tangail since 10:00am, said Kamruzzaman Raz, sub-inspector of Elenga Highway Police Outpost.
The law enforcers also blamed the truckers and the drivers of other vehicles as they usually do not follow the traffic rules.
Arif Mia, who travelled to Tangail from Gazipur, told The Daily Star that it took him more than five hours to reach his destination where he used to travel the same distance in two and a half hours.
Additional traffic police have been deployed on the highway to ease the vehicular movement, police said.

PM opens Jatrabari flyover

The much-awaited 10-kilometre Jatrabari flyover in the capital opened to the public Friday over three years after its construction work began.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the flyover at Shanir Akhra point near Dhaka-Chittagong highway around 3:50pm.
Named after former Dhaka city mayor Mohammad Hanif, the flyover is expected to make road connectivity between 32 southeastern districts and the capital faster.
The PM later addressed an inaugural ceremony of the flyover at the Osmani Memorial Hall later in the afternoon.
The 5.5-km long main flyover stretches from Dhaka-Chittagong highway (Kutubkhali) to Nimtoli through Jatrabari, Sayedabad, Kaptanbazar and Gulistan.
People will be able to use the up and down-ramps at Shanir Akhra and Chankharpool and one up-ramp at Motijheel, project officials said.
But the up and down-ramps at Janapath, Sayedabad and Dhaka-Mawa road will take four more months to complete as those sites were still occupied illegally, they added.
The Tk 2300 crore flyover is being constructed on a build, own, operate and transfer basis by the concessionaire, Belhasa Accom and Associates Ltd.
The concessionaire is to hand it over to the government after 24 years of concession period.
To collect toll from the passing vehicles, five toll plazas will be set up on the ground while another will be on the flyover, the officials said, adding that the toll would be collected by using both manual and digitised systems.
For a single trip, Tk 5 will be collected as toll for a motorbike, Tk 10 for an auto-rickshaw, Tk 35 for a car, Tk 40 for a jeep, Tk 50 for a microbus, Tk 75 for a pickup van, Tk 100 for a minibus, Tk 150 for a bus, Tk 100 for a four-wheeler truck, Tk 150 for a six-wheeler truck and Tk 200 for a trailer.

Adilur released on bail

Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary of rights organisation Odhikar, was released on bail on Friday two months after his arrest.Adilur walked out of Kashimpur jail in Gazipur around 10:30am, Jailor Abdul Kudddus told our Gazipur correspondent.The High Court on Tuesday granted him bail for six months in a case filed for publishing a “false report” .Adilur was arrested on August 10 in the case filed under the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006 for publishing a “false report” on the crackdown on Hefajat-e Islam in the capital’s Motijheel area on May 5.The report published on Odhikar website claimed 61 people were killed during the crackdown.On May 5, law enforcers flushed out several thousand Hefajat activists who took to the streets and resorted to violence following a Dhaka siege programme.

Batsmen make it Tigers’ day

Bangladesh surged ahead on a classy century from Mominul Haque on the third day of the first Test against New Zealand in Chittagong as the hosts looked to close in on the first innings total of the Kiwis.
Bangladesh ended the day on 380 for the loss of seven wickets, trailing the Black Caps by 89 runs with Sohag Gazi and Abdur Razzak unbeaten on 28 and 1 respectively at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Friday.
State-run television BTV and private satellite channel Gazi TV broadcast the match live.
Earlier, Mominul scored 181 off 274 balls, smashing 27 fours on his way to amass the third highest individual innings in the history of Bangladesh.
His valiant effort came to an end as he was out lbw to the medium pace of Corey Anderson.
He was well-supported by skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored 67 himself before being dismissed by Doug Bracewell.
After their departure, Nasir Hossain hit a quickfire 46 off 65 balls, before a rash shot in the closing overs of the match ended his innings, handing debutante Kiwi bowler Ish Sodhi his first Test wicket.
Earlier in the day, Shakib Al Hasan and Marshall Ayub put up 19 and 25 on the board, before being dismissed by Corey Anderson and Kane Williamson respectively in the morning.
Bangladesh started the day on 103 for 2, after New Zealand finished with 469 on the board on day 2.
Kane Williamson was the top scorer for New Zealand with a fluent 114, while BJ Watling contributed 103 to the team total.

Mominul Haque.

Abdur Razzak was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh, claiming three wickets, while Sohag Gazi and Shakib Al Hasan each claimed two scalps.
The Black Caps are looking to erase the daunting memories of the ODI whitewash in 2010 with a series win here.
The Tigers, on the other hand, look to finally win a Test against New Zealand — who they have lost to eight times and drawn with once — which they came so close to doing at the very same stadium in 2008 before eventually giving in to Daniel Vettori’s late half-century.
For Bangladesh, Marshall Ayub was handed a Test debut at number three while Mominul Haque is playing at four.
Ish Sodhi, the 20-year-old leg spinner and left-arm seamer Corey Anderson debuted for New Zealand as well.
SQUADS
Bangladesh
Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Marshall Ayub, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Abdur Razzak, Robiul Islam, Rubel Hossain
New Zealand
PG Fulton, HD Rutherford, BB McCullum, KS Williamson, LRPL Taylor, Corey J Anderson, BJ Watling, DAJ Bracewell, BP Martin, TA Boult, IS Sodhi